The fundamental issue for penal administrators is to limit the repetition of offending in a democratic society. A prolonged upsurge of violence, such as experienced in New Zealand tips the balance toward enlarging the powers of the police and the scope of the criminal law. It is important not to go too far and create remedies that trespass more than is necessary on acts and behavior that are not in themselves harmful. The penal system can prevent offenders from repeating their crimes either by deterring them or by reforming them or by removing them from society. However, the deterrent value of the threat of punishment is doubtful in view of the fact that a great deal of violent offending is spontaneous. Thus, the deterrent value of imprisonment is operative mainly when dangerous criminals are convicted to long terms. However, the vast majority of offenders eventually returns to the community. For this reason, the administration of the penal system in New Zealand is committed to the goal of reformation of the offenders. Unfortunately, since crime is a product of unwillingness or inability to live responsibly in a free society, offenders cannot be expected to reform in the conditions of captivity and absence of responsibility that are inherent even in a more relaxed prison regime. In addition, for the less experienced offender, prison provides a finishing school of crime because there they meet many hardened criminals. Added to these disadvantages imprisonment is a very expensive response to crime. For this reason, the law has attempted to discourage young offenders from being sent to prison and to cut down the number of short sentences. Since usually people cease to offend in their late 30s and 40s, efforts should be made to discover what operates to bring about this change and apply it at an early stage. However, the long-term goal must be to identify and to seek to remove the causes that produce a proliferation of violence. Statistical data is included.